Something Gained, Something Lost
by A Rhapsodic Soul
Summary: It is said that when good is introduced, it is soon lost and replaced with something bad. Respect soon turns to contempt. Solutions are soon proven obsolete. Abundance is made into depravity. Life, is before death. It is a terrible and brutal cycle. It is inevitable for everyone and everything. But...what of those outside the cycle? One-shot.


They say the most creative ideas seem to cross one's mind when they're tired. But what can I say? I'm always tired! I am a Rhapsodic Soul, and this is a short one-shot.

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Something Gained, Something Lost

Our story begins in Steelheart Woods, a cool-sounding and entirely fictional place that bares no relevance to the geography of any of the Pokémon games whatsoever. The important point here is that the story you're reading is set in these woods.

In Steelheart, there lived two old pals, an Espion, and an Umbreon. The friendship between these two was unmatched, and they would do anything for each other, even if that meant placing one's life on the line.

This aforementioned circumstance once occurred in Steelheart, a crisis so dreadful that one's heart could be figuratively rent in two by the gravity of the situation. It all started a while before the Umbreon and Espion met, actually.

Espion had a dear friend once. Not Umbreon… yet, but a Servine. These two Pokémon where inseparable, and the Servine always liked to play with the Espion. However, one time, the Espion had gotten thirsty due to the roughhousing he was participating in with the Servine. It was great fun, but he needed something to drink.

Walking over to a nearby pond, a nameless pond large enough to be a small lake but small enough to be a large pond, the Espion submerged his head in the water, his composure visibly relaxing as he felt the cool water caress his face. He opened his mouth and let it fill with water.

Face emerging from the water, the Espion gulped down what was in his mouth, and took in the pleasantness of the day he was having.

Until… _splash!_

The Espion had been tackled, and was underneath the Servine from earlier. Playfully growling, the Espion twisted his body and forced the Servine off of him. It would seem that they were fighting, but the two of them regarded their "fights," as "play."

And like all play-fights, it was only a matter of time before one of them was exhausted. So, curling up next to the Espion, the Servine drifted off with the setting sun, and soon the Espion joined him.

But there was quite a bit of disturbance caused. The Espion was the first to notice, snapping awake and scrutinizing the dark pond's surface. There were ripples, here and there. And they seemed to be coming towards the two friends.

The Espion sounded out a low warning, trying to arouse the Servine's consciousness while at the same time not wanting to give his position to whatever was in the pond away yonder.

The movements had stopped, and his heart was beating so fast and he contained so much adrenaline it's a wonder he didn't dash from the spot from instinct right then and there.

However, his determination to protect his friend was dashed to the ground as soon as a thing began to arise, as a giant beast lurched out of the water and loomed over them.

The Espion turned and ran behind a tree, with only one thought on his mind, and that was to flee with his life. But then he noticed something was missing something.

 _Servine!_

He peered out from behind his hiding spot, and immediately wished he hadn't, as he witnessed Servine be snatched in the beast's jaws, and upon the Espion's closer examination had led him to believe that the beast was a Gyarados. The gruesome scene was met with a blood-curling crunch, and Servine limped over, dead in the Gyarados' jaws.

Before he died, the last expression the Servine left was clear:

 _Run._

The Espion turned and ran as fast as he could, knowing that his friend had just been killed and it wasn't likely he would be seeing the Servine again. Continuing like this for around thirteen minutes, the Espion stopped when his breaths grew to fervent and hard to keep running. He fell to the ground, panting, and couldn't do anything else.

Once the Espion had finally calmed down a little, the emotions swarmed him.

The Espion was almost overwhelmed with guilt, crying and sobbing at the loss of his friend. Putting aside his petty feelings though, fate had something else to throw at him, and this time it would be catching the Espion off guard.

The Espion, in the vulnerable position he was in at the time, was surrounded by a pack of four Sneasel. These Pokémon were ruthless predators that used any means to ensure a meal. The Espion, however, just laid there and hoped to take the punishment he thought he deserved from them, and maybe join his friend in death.

Closing his eyes and hoping death would be swift, the Espion, wracked with guilt and remorse for a death he thought he'd caused, laid on all fours submissively as the Sneasel started to close in.

But then the Espion heard an explosion.

He quickly opened his eyes, forgot any sorrowful emotion he held, and turned so quickly he almost gave himself whiplash.

He saw an Umbreon, but only for a moment, as he turned around to look at what the Umbreon was glaring at.

It was a Weavile with a claw raised at the Espion.

Instinctively ducking, the Weavile was killed by another dark explosion. Though not the direct target, the Espion was hit, and fell over, his last memory being an Umbreon trotting over to his side. His vision faded away, and he lost consciousness.

When the Espion had regained consciousness, he had thought it all a dream, until he felt the sore muscles ache in his legs. He almost started to cry again when he heard the annoyed grunt of a Pokémon near him.

Looking at the source of the sound ever-so-slowly, the Espion saw the Umbreon from the night before. The Espion walked over to the Umbreon and sniffed around, learning her scent well. He then bowed his head in thanks for his rescue.

In a short story made shorter, two days later, the Umbreon that had rescued the Espion had filled a hole in his heart, and the two of them began to survive together.

On their third day together, the two encountered a problem.

And that problem was one of those cheeky bastards called humans.

"Oh _wow!_ Two Eevee evolutions in the same area!"

The Espion and Umbreon diverted their attention from what they were doing and looked at the human, trying to make sense of what he was yammering about.

It was only until he took out a sphere, and from it, released a colossal, strong-looking Pokémon. The Espion and his companion decided that moment to flee due to the impressiveness of their guest.

The two were too slow, however, as the mighty Pokémon released an ear-piercing roar, and let forth a seeming supernova of flame, destroying every tree, shrub, blade of grass, and anything else organic in the direction of the two fleeing Pokémon.

The Espion recoiled in pain, but that was before he saw he wasn't the one who had bared the brunt of the attack.

The Umbreon slumped over, charred, smoking, but still standing, growling.

Before the Espion could even process what was happening, the human tossed a sphere at the Umbreon, who disappeared inside of it. The Umbreon, desperately panicking, used the last of her strength to break free.

But there remained a problem. The human's large Pokémon, and the human himself.

" _Argh!_ " The human growled. "Almost had it!"

The giant Pokémon roared again and loosed a giant ball of flame, travelling at a velocity that no living thing could avoid. And this time it hit both the Espion and Umbreon.

The Espion, weaker than the Umbreon and weakened by the first attack, had not the poise to keep on all fours, and was mortally wounded. The Umbreon, who had just faced the full force of the first attack, was sent flying and killed.

Another sphere-like object was thrown at Espion, who found himself inside a lightless, black, sub-atomic world. Due to the nature of his state of being, the Espion couldn't see himself, but could still somehow be amongst his thoughts.

Unbeknownst to the Espion, however, the human outside put his Pokémon away, and whined. "It isn't fair! I wanted both of them!" The human then scowled and proceeded to walk toward what he called a "Pokémon Center."

The Espion didn't really think much. He had made the exact same failure he did when Servine was alive, and this time it didn't look like death was even an option presented to him. As the human placed his sphere-prison inside of the PC machine, he didn't feel as much pain he did previously did, though he was emotionally crushed. He was heartbroken and knew that he wasn't going to be given an opportunity to restart. Though, he thought, there wouldn't be a point in restarting. He had just witnessed the murder of his friend by a Pokémon who probably wasn't even given a choice as to whether or not he wanted to end the Umbreon's life. Pokémon are submissive to humans, in every way, shape or form due to their advancements in science. In a sense, the Espion realized, Pokémon do not even have free will.

But no later after a week did the Espion care anymore. He was trapped in a prison that supported his life and was powered by solar and geothermal energy, so that he could never die. Should it break, however, the sphere he was in supported the solar-powered function as an emergency and was virtually indestructible.

Around a year later, the Espion went insane.

Ten years later, the Espion lost all logic, and his thoughts strayed from barely coherent to little to none.

165 years later, all human life was destroyed in a nuclear holocaust that the humans themselves induced.

940 years later, the Earth was destroyed by an errant asteroid, and was sent flying to the sun's orbit.

The Espion, in the sphere, remained intact and unharmed, orbiting around the sun with what was left of earth.

And he remained that way.

 **DAS ENDE.**


End file.
